Without a Pulse
by mabel-but-slytherin
Summary: Despite human death often being defined as when the heart stops beating, there are often cases in which a person is revived after an extended period of time without a pulse. Only those who understood Danny Phantom's secret knew there was a limitation to his ghost powers.


**Scientific fact: despite human death often being defined as when the heart stops beating, there are often cases in which a person is revived after an extended period of time without a pulse (this is the point of CPR after all). After remembering a news story of a man surviving 96 minutes without a heartbeat following a heart attack, I figured it'd be interesting to make a Danny Phantom AU playing with this juxtaposition of life and death.**

**I don't know if it's been done before, but it's a combination of the trope limiting to how long someone can stay in super-powered form (as in Animorphs and many other fantasy works) and the idea that Danny's dead while in his ghost form. This all basically means that whenever Danny's a ghost, he doesn't have a pulse.**

**Enjoy!**

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The fight seemed to be going on forever.

Normally fights involving the local celebrity Inviso-Bill were quick and unnoticed (until some unlucky citizen happened to wander upon the property damage), taking place either in the middle of the night or in a five minute span somewhere high in the sky. This fight, however, had already been raging for well over an hour, in the middle of the Amity Park financial district (which was really the size of a town block, but happened to have a lot of valuable office space) and was by no means easy to ignore.

The blocked off streets, dozens of reporters, thousands of dollars in broken glass, and dozens of corporate networks worth of floating computer systems made sure of that.

Sam Manson and Tucker Foley were used to being some of the only people to witness their friend Danny's ghostly endeavors. Although they certainly didn't have a chance to see many of the outcome of encounters with a hostile ghosts on patrol or his ghost sense during classes, the pair were experienced enough to read through the overwhelming worry for their best friend and analyze his chances at winning the fight.

And Tucker Foley couldn't help but wince as Technus hurled another monitor Danny's way.

It wasn't that Tucker thought the fight was hopeless, in fact, the self-proclaimed techno-geek had full faith that Phantom would prevail. It was just that seeing so much beautiful technology ruined meant this fight would have even bigger consequences than anyone expected when Danny first realized Technus had escaped again.

Seeing the Fenton RV pull up only made that pit of foreboding in Tucker's stomach worse.

Before the vehicle even came to a complete stop all three of the remaining members of the Fenton family hopped out of the vehicle. Jack and Maddie instantly leveled their respective weaponry to the sky towards the supernatural foray and fired away, adding even more ectoplasmic projectiles for both parties to dodge. It was always impossible to tell where Jack Fenton was intending to discharge his weapon, but Tucker felt a bead of sweat when he saw that Danny's mom was clearly aiming for Phantom.

Jazz Fenton, however, ran away from where her parents were launching themselves into the fight, bright eyes efficiently scanning the gathered crowd until they latched on to where Sam and Tucker were standing, far enough out of the way to avoid suspicion on how two teenagers got such a good spot, but close enough to avoid risking visibility. The carrot-haired bookworm pushed her way through the crowd with an expertise that belied her experience in shoving past mobs crowded her family, whether it be her parents or her brother.

"I tried to keep Mom and Dad away as long as I could. That's not saying much, but it's better than the whole 'family in matching Fenton ghost hunting uniforms' idea Dad suggested before I told them Danny's with you." The older teen reached out and grabbed both of her brother's friends by the shoulders, trying to push them further away from the crowd before Sam threw offher grip with a glower. "You have to make sure they don't see you or they'll go looking for Danny!"

As soon as Sam could plant her iron-toed boots into the ground, she was glaring at Jazz. "Look, I know you want to help Danny hunt ghosts and stay away from your parents, but be aware that Tucker and I have been supporting him for far longer than you have at this."

Tucker found himself stuck in-between the pair of stubborn women, wondering how he always wound up in these situations before the recently-becoming-all-too-familiar sound of splintering hard drives sounded behind them as more collateral damage crashed into the building.

Jazz's eyes grew wide as her mind obviously jumped to another conclusion. "Wait. How long has Danny been fighting the Ghost Master of Science and Electrical Technology?"

The fire suddenly left Sam's eyes as the Goth shared a look with her friend before both broke down in snickers. Seeing that Tucker seemed to be having trouble controlling himself, Sam couldn't help but ask, "what did you just call Technus?"

"The Ghost Master of Science and Electrical Technology! I'm getting really concerned at how long Danny's been up there!" Unfortunately for the three spectating teens, the first part of Jazz's outcry seemed to make its way through the crowd into the fight still raging overhead.

Dodging the most recent punch sent his way by the teen superhero, the technological ghost quickly darted his way over to the observing threesome. "Why yes, I **am **the master of all ghostly technology! I see finally that this hip, young human child has finally recognized the greatness that is I, Technus, master of all made of machine and techno-parts!"

Any further monologuing from the electronics obsessed ghost was cut off by a quick aerial maneuver and ecto-blast from Danny Phantom. As soon as the ghost hero recognized just who Technus was terrorizing, his eyes widened with fear before narrowing in determination, shooting an even larger beam from his fist. "Leave her alone!"

The white-haired ghost let out a wheezy bellow as he darted around the people, quickly closing in on where Sam stood, closest to the gathered crowd out of her act of stubbornness. "So, the Ghost Boy's weakness is his feelings for the pathetic humans! Well watch as I, Technus, use the power of technology to take your love to new heights!"

Sam was aware of a tightening around her waist, not an unfamiliar feeling after being jammed into so many outrageously puffy yet tight pink dresses by her mother, and felt her feet rise off the ground as she was jerked into the air. Looking down Sam saw the tell-tale glow of a ghost's power surrounding the Spector Deflector Danny always had her wear for protection. She wondered for a second how Technus's power was able to control the anti-ghost device, until she could've nearly smacked herself at her stupidity. The thing was left turned off so Danny wouldn't accidently shock himself touching her.

Just as Sam began to find herself panicking at the sight of multiple stories passing by in front of her, she felt herself enveloped in the strong, sturdy arms of her best friend. The actions was more of a jerking pull than Sam would like to imagine Danny's grip to be, but that might have been due to the fact that they were both moving at over 60 miles an hour.

Sooner than the now-blushing teenager would've liked she was being set down on top of the nearest skyscraper. She tried making eye contact with Danny as she stammered out a thank you, hating how weak-kneed her best friend **the unexpected flight **made her, but the ghost of her affections didn't even meet her gaze, giving her a quick glance over before jumping back into the fray without a word.

Sam tried to watch from over the edge without getting too close, the high winds and cooling breeze at this altitude doing nothing to ease her sudden vertigo. Taking a quick glance over her shoulder assured the Goth that the building did indeed have a rooftop stairwell and she could safely make her way back to the ground without relying on Danny, but that didn't change the fact that anything could change in that amount of time.

A vibration in her pocket (being super rich and getting a cell phone before anyone in school, besides Tucker's PDA, had its perks) knocked Sam out of her reverie as she looked back down to see Tucker and Jazz frantically waving at her, before pointing at their respective ears. Sam's hand darted to her opposite pocket as she realized they were gesturing to the Fenton Phones, knowing that while Danny may not have had time to put his in before phasing out of Casper High, that didn't mean that the trio couldn't use the technology to talk despite their sudden separation.

As soon as the device was planted in her ear lobe Sam began talking, not even bothering to give a greeting or test if it worked. "Why's Danny acting so strangely? He barely seemed to notice me when he saved me back there?"

"How long has Danny been fighting the- Technus?" Jazz's voice was harder than Sam had ever heard the know-it-all sound before, crisply repeating her question despite her obvious hesitance at the unfamiliar name.

Sam debated just ignoring the question and stubbornly repeating her own, until Tucker's voice cut through the system. "We were just about to get out of class when his ghost sense went off, so I'm guessing it'd be about an hour and a half now."

"So that explains why Danny's been acting so strange…" There was a tone to Jazz's voice that sounded almost melancholic, and Sam finally felt her blood boil that his older sister who just arrived on the scene, who was so far away from her watching over Danny with her best friend seemed entitled to understand their friend better than they did.

"And how exactly does Danny having a long fight with Technus mean that he's going to start acting strange? It's not like that guy's weird personality's rubbing off on him!"

"No, but Danny's own obsession is. I know you guys don't like to think of Danny as a ghost, but I still hold true to the theory that every ghost has one. He hasn't had a chance to change back into a human, has he?"

And suddenly the boiling rage in Sam's bloodstream froze over, filling her with a chill that could only come from dread. As she made her way closer to the edge, she saw the fight raging on below her, if the attack that was taking place on the streets could even be called a fight. Technus seemed to have given up on facing Danny directly altogether, instead laughing as his mass of technology swarmed around him, individual devices breaking off one at a time to crash towards now fleeing spectators, their ghostly hero darting from piece to piece trying to blast or block them all, gathering bruises and burns in the process.

She had never seen Danny so beaten and broken since the original accident with the Ghost Portal that changed all of their lives forever. She could feel the panic looming over her as memories of her friend collapsing out of the explosion haunted her, the first time she saw the glowing rings and her heart nearly stopping as she realized for a brief moment that his had too.

Danny had never gone this long in his ghost form before. And given the consequences of his powers, it was apparent that Jazz doubted her little brother would survive.

Sam wouldn't allow herself to stop believing in Danny.

It was obvious that Danny needed to revert to his human form as soon as possible. However, it was equally apparent that the ghost teen would never be able to leave and transform while his obsession, _his town_, was being threatened in front of him. Sam looked around her barren perch to find some way to get him away from that block, and as she saw the sunset casting shadows on the far edge of the building, she suddenly knew what she had to do.

"Tucker, I need you to distract Technus. Deal with him for a few minutes as I take care of Danny."

"What? How do you just expect me to take on a ghost who, in case you forgot, can completely manipulate my beloved technology?!"

"Does that really matter? Danny's in trouble!"

"Wait, Tucker. Do you think if we snuck inside the RV you could hack Dad's Fenton Bazooka's locking device?" Sam could barely make out Jazz's finger pointing to where the two Fenton parents were busy firing away at the ghost. Technus must have used his powers to target Maddie's weapon, if the green glow and the uncontrolled blasting in random direction gave any indication. But it appeared that the technology-based ghost viewed Jack Fenton as not a threat, as despite the blasts also going all over the place, it seemed to be simply the result of the Fenton patriarch's terrible aim.

"Ghost fighting might not be my style, but hacking into stuff is what I was born to do!" Seeing her red-haired and red-bereted friends run off, Sam knew it was time to put her plan into action. Her heart fluttered as she gazed upon the flight ahead of her, but bracing herself, she knew it was what she needed to do.

"HEY PHANTOM!" Her obsessed-friend's head shot up to lock on her, but Sam barely had time to reassure herself that she had his attention before she turned around and sprinted as fast as she could towards the other side of the building. Never before had Sam been so glad that she was the physically-fit one of her friends, that she could guarantee herself enough time to leap over the rail keeping people back from the edge and hurtling herself over the side of the building before her friend was even halfway to her.

Sam couldn't help but squeeze her eyes closed as she fell faster and faster, the wind battering them as the ever-approaching concrete loomed ahead. Not even in Danny arms had flight felt this smooth, yet not even under Technus's control has the sensation been this terrifying.

She couldn't help the slight escape of breath that came as she was yet again caught and held against her best friend's chest. They slowed down quickly, the ghost boy setting her feet lightly on the solid ground and gazing into her eyes, his own spell slightly broken by her peril, but the fear and concern in his eyes were still overshadowed by an unfeeling sense of protectiveness. He started to rise ever-so-slowly from Sam's perspective, breaking contact as his head swiveled away to try to hear the sounds of the still-continuing fight, missing Sam's muttered "I'm sorry Danny" as her steel-toed boot slammed against his head.

The boy collapsed onto the pavement immediately, glowing rings passing over him as unconsciousness facilitated a change in form. Sam found herself pulled almost against her will next to him, all rational thought flying away as her hands reached for his chest, immediately recognizing the lack of reassuring heartbeat and getting to work trying to pound the life back into him.

Sam had never been so glad that she was wearing a pair of unbroken leather gloves, hoping that the extra toughness could aid her hands in forcing her savior's chest up and down, maybe even making up for the uncontrollable shaking in her frame that she wished she could pass on to the corpse. Her emotions burned through her like an electric current, a tingling on her lips almost ironically mocking the Goth as she shared her first kiss with her crush in a way she never dreamed she would: crushing her lips and body into his as she tried to bring him back to life, trying to make up yet again for her mistake as she pushed him towards the portal, towards the heroics, towards his death.

Sam wasn't sure if it was just a flash of light refracting off her building tears, but she could swear that underneath her hands she saw a faint ring of light form above his heart.


End file.
